Objective: To compare the effects of physiotherapy with and without manual therapy in the management of postural neck pain.
Methods: The randomised controlled trial was conducted at the Physiotherapy Department of South City Hospital, Karachi, from September 2017 to July 2018, and comprised subjects with >6 months of neck pain with no related medical dysfunction. The patients were enrolled by non-probability consecutive sampling technique and randomly divided into Group A and Group B using computer-generated numbers. Group A received physiotherapy along with manual therapy, while Group B only had physiotherapy. Group A was also taught a home exercise programme. A printed exercise sheet was provided with frequency and repetition details. Visual analogue scale for pain intensity level and neck disability index were used to measure outcome at 3rd and 12th week. Data was analysed using SPSS 22.
Results: Of the 60 subjects, there were 30(50%) in each of the two groups. The mean age in Group A was 32.77±7.44 years and it was 32.53±7.9 years in Group B. Overall, there were 21(35%) males and 39(65%) females. Significant reduction in pain intensity and neck disability levels at 3 and 12 weeks was noted compared to baseline (p<0.05). Inter-group comparison at final follow-up showed better Group A results compared to Group B (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Physiotherapy with manual therapy was found to be better compared to physiotherapy alone.
Keywords: Neck pain, Visual analogue scale, Neck disability index, Manual therapy, Exercise..